Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Homemade Vanilla Icecream

Ever made your own icecream? I've made it a few times, including a semifreddo phase I went through in the early nineties. THAT one was bad for my bum.

But I've never made a 'custard' based icecream. I wanted to try this because being pregnant I can't eat anything with raw eggs in it - which most homemade icecreams have.

This recipe is based on the AMAZING David Lebovitz's vanilla recipe here, with, I admit, a few steps skipped out. He's the king of the scoop, David Lebovitz, and I wonder if I'd stuck to his method, if it really could have been any more sublime. Truly. This stuff rocks.

I served it for lunchtime dessert to a bunch of friends on Sunday (with this pavlova) a pairing which conveniently uses up all the whites of the yolks you used in the icecream!

SO good.

Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Icecream (Recipe by David Lebovitz - with a couple of minor adjustments (*cough*, short-cuts)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

METHOD:1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover and remove from heat.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

4. Stir the custard into the heavy cream, add the vanilla extract and remove the vanilla bean.

5. Either put into an icecream maker (which has a pre-frozen bowl and freezes the mix quickest) or a container with a lid or foil over it, in the freezer. Needs at least 8 hours to really freeze through. If you're using an icecream maker make you would usually pull it out and blend it again when semi-frozen (after 3-4 hours). I don't think this is necessary though. Still the creamiest, vanilla-y, most delicious icecream I've ever tried.

There's about 2 small scoops left. Which I think Ad and I might polish off shortly with a small slice of this (even though it's not Friday night dessert night!!)

A new chocolate cake recipe with 4 eggs in it! (I only ever use 2.) Will try it and if it's any good, will blog it!

(All in the interest of recipe testing, of course. The things my bum and I do for you gorgeous people.)

Comments

Ever made your own icecream? I've made it a few times, including a semifreddo phase I went through in the early nineties. THAT one was bad for my bum.

But I've never made a 'custard' based icecream. I wanted to try this because being pregnant I can't eat anything with raw eggs in it - which most homemade icecreams have.

This recipe is based on the AMAZING David Lebovitz's vanilla recipe here, with, I admit, a few steps skipped out. He's the king of the scoop, David Lebovitz, and I wonder if I'd stuck to his method, if it really could have been any more sublime. Truly. This stuff rocks.

I served it for lunchtime dessert to a bunch of friends on Sunday (with this pavlova) a pairing which conveniently uses up all the whites of the yolks you used in the icecream!

SO good.

Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Icecream (Recipe by David Lebovitz - with a couple of minor adjustments (*cough*, short-cuts)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

METHOD:1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover and remove from heat.

2. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

4. Stir the custard into the heavy cream, add the vanilla extract and remove the vanilla bean.

5. Either put into an icecream maker (which has a pre-frozen bowl and freezes the mix quickest) or a container with a lid or foil over it, in the freezer. Needs at least 8 hours to really freeze through. If you're using an icecream maker make you would usually pull it out and blend it again when semi-frozen (after 3-4 hours). I don't think this is necessary though. Still the creamiest, vanilla-y, most delicious icecream I've ever tried.

There's about 2 small scoops left. Which I think Ad and I might polish off shortly with a small slice of this (even though it's not Friday night dessert night!!)

A new chocolate cake recipe with 4 eggs in it! (I only ever use 2.) Will try it and if it's any good, will blog it!

(All in the interest of recipe testing, of course. The things my bum and I do for you gorgeous people.)